Another new year. This is my seventh year of writing for Seahorse. I really enjoy the opportunity to express myself in this high quality publication. I hope that some of what I have had to say over the years has been of interest or amusing at times. Being at the heart of one and looking forward to the other, I thought I would review the path of the two Prime Time events in our sport over the past several years and editions and offer my observations.

Offshore sailing, led by the Whitbread Round the World Race, is enjoying growing popularity, not just amongst those of us in the sport but, in some ways more importantly, with the general public. Offshore has always been big in countries like France. The story of man against the sea, the adventure, the danger, the dream, has always been an attraction in France. Tabarly, Peron and Autissier are heros